Mentalrobics™

You exercise your body to stay physically in shape, so why shouldn't you exercise your brain to stay mentally fit? With these daily exercises you will learn how to flex your mind, improve your creativity and boost your memory. As with any exercise, repetition is necessary for you to see improvement, so pick your favorite exercises from our daily suggestions and repeat them as desired. Try to do some mentalrobics every single day!

When a mother is trying console an upset child, she will lower her voice and talk in a slow, calm manner. This works because people tend to adopt the attitudes of the people around them. If you are interacting with someone who is stressed out, they will be radiating a lot of nervous energy, which will probably make you start felling stressed out as well. Conversely, if you hang out with people who are calm and relaxed you will start feeling more calm and relaxed as well.

If you are feeling stressed out, you can use this technique to get rid of some of that nervous energy. First, make sure that you are breathing properly. Now, slow everything down in an exaggerated way. Speak slowly, walk slowly, move your arms slowly, breath slowly. Pretend that someone has hit the slow-motion button on the remote control for your life. It may seem unnatural or silly, but try to do this for at least 10 minutes and you may find that you have slowed your mind down and that you feel a lot more relaxed.

When people are under stress they often clench their teeth. This can lead to tight jaw muscles. This tightness can then spread to other muscles in the head and neck and may even contribute to back pain and tension headaches. The following stretching and massage exercise will help eliminate the problem at the source.

First, open your mouth as wide as it will go to get a good stretch of the jaw muscles. Do this a few times. Now, try to open your mouth again, but use your hand to give some resistance. You should feel your jaw muscles trying hard to open your mouth against the force from your hand. Maintain this pressure for at least thirty seconds and repeat a few times. This may help teach your jaw to stop clenching. Now, take your two fingers and find the small indentation at the back of the jaw muscle near the ears. Push on either side until you feel a slight pain and massage the muscle a little bit. This will help relax the tension that is already there.

Squeezing a stress ball is an effective way to get rid of your frustrations. Being under stress can cause extra energy to build up in the body. The repetitive exercise of squeezing a stress ball can expend some of this excess energy and make you feel calmer. As a bonus, it builds up your wrist strength.

To make your own stress ball, you will need some small balloons. Using a scissors cut the neck off of a few of the balloons. Fill up one of the balloons with uncooked rice, small beans or beads. Now, take a second balloon and wrap it around the first one to cover the opening. Wrap several more balloons around the ball to thicken the wall and adjust the firmness to your liking. Squeeze away!

Worry is one of the most potent antidotes to creativity. In order to fully immerse yourself in the creative process, you must be able to clear your mind of all worries.

One technique is to postpone your worries to a specified time at the end of the day. Perhaps you could stop at the park on the way home from work. Or maybe you could settle into your comfy chair after dinner. Wherever and whenever you set your time, try to make it a daily routine. This will get you in the habit of postponing all your worries until the designated time.

During your worry time, give yourself permission to review all the frustrations, irritations or other worries that you have had during the day. Use this time to try to find resolutions or steps that you can take to resolve some of your anxieties. Once your time is up, put your worries aside and trust in your subconscious mind to keep working on the problem for tomorrow's session.

Tension headaches are the most common type of headaches. They usually appear as a dull throbbing pain that can radiate from the neck, back, eyes or head. The exact cause of tension headaches is still unknown, but a common theory is that it stems from muscle contractions around the head, neck and jaw. The brain may misinterpreted this tension as pain.

The most common cause of this type of muscle tension is stress. Many people respond to stress by clenching their teeth or hunching their shoulders. This tension can quickly spread to other nearby muscle groups and caused referred pain. It is not uncommon for back problems to originate in the jaw! The more muscles that tense up, the more likely it will be for a tension headache to develop.

Tension headaches can be treated with over the counter pain medications as well as relaxation techniques such as massage or meditation. Learning how to relax the muscles in your neck, back and shoulders will help your avoid getting tension headaches. The shoulder stretching exercise is one good way to accomplish this.